Pride and Prejudice, Racism and Size

Welcome to Pride and Prejudice week, everyone. In honor of P&P Week, KJ and I are watching the A&E six-hour mini-series of Pride and Prejudice, plus we played the Pride and Prejudice game. We are also adding certain words and phrases to our vocabulary in honor of this great work of literature. For instance, "I'm all astonishment!" I am officially a fan of Jane Austen.

Allow me to point out that I HATE cold weather. Why are we still having cold and rain in March? Perhaps I will boycott the outside world until it starts acting properly with the season. I'll just refuse to go outside until the weather is warmer and more March-like.

So, there was a protest on campus yesterday in response to a blatantly racist article that was published in one of the student newspapers. I read the article, and I am appalled. How can someone be so ignorant and prejudiced in this day and age? And how can something so terrible as that be published? I know that we have freedom of speech and freedom of the press, but who would be so stupid and racist as to put those words on paper and spread them all over campus? I am almost glad that it was published, however, because it gets this subject out in the open. There is a great deal of racism on campus, despite the University's attempts to assert that it is a diverse and welcoming place. Only 5.9% of the students on campus are from minority backgrounds. Clearly there is a need to address these issues on this campus. There must be something wrong if so few minority students choose to come here. Also, why are there separate organizations for the traditionally black Greek organizations? Why can't all of the Greek organizations have ONE governing body? I'm not Greek, and I'm not totally clear on the whole system, but it seems to me that the separate organizations are just another form of segregation. I just hope that this offensive event serves to bring out dialogue about this problem.

Also, a study came out this week of 10,000 people in America, and it disproves the old ideas about average size in America. The average dress size for an American woman is actually 14, NOT 8, as previously thought. And for all you guys out there, the average suit size is 44, rather than 40. So, there's hope. We're not as relatively FAT as we might be. And now the McDonald's supersize is being phased out, so there's hope for us after all.

So, there's the good news for the day. Hope you enjoy it.